diff --git a/projects/control-service/projects/pipelines_control_service/src/main/java/com/vmware/taurus/datajobs/DeploymentModelConverter.java b/projects/control-service/projects/pipelines_control_service/src/main/java/com/vmware/taurus/datajobs/DeploymentModelConverter.java
index a5a28e38fd..0f888d9be6 100644
--- a/projects/control-service/projects/pipelines_control_service/src/main/java/com/vmware/taurus/datajobs/DeploymentModelConverter.java
+++ b/projects/control-service/projects/pipelines_control_service/src/main/java/com/vmware/taurus/datajobs/DeploymentModelConverter.java
@@ -268,8 +268,9 @@ private static void checkDeploymentsCanBeMerged(
   }
 
   private static void resetVdkVersionIfPythonVersionChange(
-          DesiredDataJobDeployment oldDeployment, DesiredDataJobDeployment newDeployment) {
-    if (newDeployment.getPythonVersion() != null && !oldDeployment.getPythonVersion().equals(newDeployment.getPythonVersion())) {
+      DesiredDataJobDeployment oldDeployment, DesiredDataJobDeployment newDeployment) {
+    if (newDeployment.getPythonVersion() != null
+            && oldDeployment.getPythonVersion() != null && !oldDeployment.getPythonVersion().equals(newDeployment.getPythonVersion())) {
       newDeployment.setVdkVersion(null);
     }
   }
diff --git a/projects/control-service/projects/pipelines_control_service/src/main/java/com/vmware/taurus/service/deploy/DeploymentService.java b/projects/control-service/projects/pipelines_control_service/src/main/java/com/vmware/taurus/service/deploy/DeploymentService.java
index 38f03dc20c..78c19eb4ec 100644
--- a/projects/control-service/projects/pipelines_control_service/src/main/java/com/vmware/taurus/service/deploy/DeploymentService.java
+++ b/projects/control-service/projects/pipelines_control_service/src/main/java/com/vmware/taurus/service/deploy/DeploymentService.java
@@ -272,8 +272,10 @@ private void setPythonVersionIfNull(JobDeployment oldDeployment, JobDeployment n
     }
   }
 
-  private void resetVdkVersionIfPythonVersionChange(JobDeployment oldDeployment, JobDeployment newDeployment) {
-    if (newDeployment.getPythonVersion() != null && !oldDeployment.getPythonVersion().equals(newDeployment.getPythonVersion())) {
+  private void resetVdkVersionIfPythonVersionChange(
+      JobDeployment oldDeployment, JobDeployment newDeployment) {
+    if (newDeployment.getPythonVersion() != null
+        && oldDeployment.getPythonVersion() != null && !oldDeployment.getPythonVersion().equals(newDeployment.getPythonVersion())) {
       newDeployment.setVdkVersion(null);
     }
   }